Last week, I devised a system to speed paint the Dark Angels, but the open question was – would the same process work on vehicles or would it have to be modified as happens with most Space Marines vehicles (because of the large, flat areas that typically respond better to lining rather than the shading that the infantry get).

I am happy to report that, with the simple addition of just a couple of painting steps (to cover things like headlights), it does!

The Impulsor has been painted up to cart around the five man Assault Intercessor squad that I did the Dark Angels paint scheme trial on, so they don’t have to trudge across the battlefield getting shot, but I also popped in a little Eradicator squad because, well, when things can get painted this fast it takes almost no extra effort at all!

If you are speeding an Impulsor, or any of the larger Primaris vehicles for that matter, never, ever, ever glue on the repulsor plates until everything is painted – they are an absolute pain to get the brush behind if glued on but utter simplicity if left off. Same applies to the main engines.

The few additions to the speed painting guide to include vehicles really are minimal. The headlights (which, incidentally, I will also be using for the heat sinks on the barrels of flamer weapons) are just Balthasar Gold/Agrax/Scorpion Brass, while the auspex/sensor thingies around the turret are simply Stormhost Silver with a layer of Talassar Blue contrast – that creates the nice ‘jewel’ effect way better than Soulstone Blue ever did, my go-to for these areas in the past.

The missile warheads were done with a single coat of Corax White.

And that is it – I reckon with these tips and those for the infantry, a complete third company of Dark Angels could be completed in an unbelievably short space of time, and they do not look half bad if I say so myself!

Given all that, the Pile of Shame has inevitably grown with Dark Angels units. However, this time round I am fairly confident that the pile will remain an insignificant mound due to the speed of the painting and the fact that I really like Dark Angels.

Already on the painting table are a half-finished Intercessor and Aggressors squad, I have already lined up another Intercessors squad to join them, and picked up a Hammerfall Bunker for cheap over the weekend – there seems a reasonable chance that all of that can be finished by the end of next weekend.

Which is good, because I have also put together a unit of Outriders, for which I will have to figure out a speed painting routine for the Ravenwing (got some ideas there already), and I have a hankering to do some really sneaky Dark Angels in the guise of the Phobos boyz from the Combat Patrol box set.

Exciting times ahead for the Unforgiven…